Steve Israel's plan to win in 2014

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee expects that President Barack Obama will wield his national political machine on behalf of House Democrats in the 2014 campaign, giving the party a better chance to retake the House from the conservative Republican majority, DCCC Chairman Steve Israel wrote in a memo to his fellow lawmakers Friday.

In the three-page memo, which a Democratic aide shared with POLITICO, Israel argues that Democrats are in a stronger position for 2014 than they were at this stage last cycle.

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Israel stops short of pledging that the party will win the House, instead predicting his committee is on track to “continue defeating Republicans and to send the tea party to the dustbin of political history.”

Rather than conceding the conventional wisdom that a president’s second midterm election is usually bad for his party, Israel says the GOP’s confidence in the “six-year itch” will prove unfounded.

In fact, Democrats are counting on Obama to play an “unprecedented” role in the fight to win the House and keep the Democrats’ successful 2012 coalition engaged in the off year.

“In 2012, President Obama was completely focused on his own re-election, as he should have been. But for 2014, he will be able to focus on Congressional races, and he has already made early commitments that are unprecedented and transformational. President Barack Obama has agreed to eight events just in 2013 for House Democrats, with additional support from Vice President Biden and other surrogates,” Israel writes. “In addition, OFA’s ground game, which was a vital part of the Obama campaign’s success in 2012, will now be focused on Congress — energizing the critical ‘New American Electorate’ that we need to keep engaged through the 2014 elections.”

The DCCC and Democratic-aligned outside groups have signaled they hope to use 2013 to soften up closely divided or Republican-leaning districts, so as to put the party and its candidates on better footing when 2014 begins in earnest.

Israel touts Democrats’ early recruiting efforts in his memo; the outside group House Majority PAC also recently unveiled a list of 10 Republican lawmakers it hopes to target in the off year, including Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman and California Rep. Gary Miller.

The DCCC evidently welcomes those outside efforts, with Israel mentioning House Majority PAC by name as a key ally.

“Unlike in the 2010 election cycle, where outside spending only existed on one side of the ledger, Democratic allies like House Majority PAC have proven themselves to be successful. In the 2012 election cycle, HMP spent over $40 million in 56 races, and they have already released their top target list for 2014,” Israel says.